Close up: Heikal's visit By Salama A Salama Following 37 years of absence from the prestigious institution that he once led, Mohamed Hassanein Heikal came to Al-Ahram offices a few days ago. His visit, if anything, offered an opportunity to reflect on what happened to journalism in Egypt over the past three decades. Some people used to say that we lived in the brightest era of freedom when in fact opinion was repressed, creativity penalised and truth falsified. Heikal's absence from Al-Ahram was a turning point for Egyptian journalism. Instead of moving faster towards modernity, we slipped back into a time of concessions, deal making and compromises. Politicians relinquished their calling with security agents stepping in to make policy. Chief editors emerged not because of their professional merit, but because of their loyalty to the powers that be. One cannot dismiss 30 years or so of Egypt's history by blaming it all on the former president. We had the Supreme Council of Journalism and a Media Committee in the Shura Council. These bodies were supposed to represent the government's view to the media, and yet the appointment of chief editors was mostly made by security officials in consultation with the information minister. The latter, needless to say, did everything the president wished him to do. For the larger part of 30 years, chief editors and chairmen of the board of national newspapers dipped into the coffers of their newspapers, accumulating untold wealth while making the government pay for any losses they made. They named their own salary, signed their own allowances, and had no one to answer to in financial matters. In political matters, they toed the government line, sang its praises, and turned a blind eye to everything that mattered, fraudulent elections included. They exaggerated the perils of Islamist movements and made no effort to defend political or personal freedoms. Five years ago, when the plan for the bequest of power was put into motion, the old team of chief editors was replaced with a younger team more in tune with the needs of the future president -- Gamal Mubarak -- and his Policies Committee. The businessmen of the National Democratic Party went as far as creating their own newspaper, which no one reads. Journalism became but a hectic race to please the presidential family. And those who gave better coverage to the family or were more zealous in insulting the opposition were often rewarded with parliamentary seats, so they can go on spitting their venom with immunity. One particularly unsavoury chief editor set aside a column in his newspaper for insulting independent and unbiased writers. Heikal was a regular target for his insults, so was Mohamed El-Baradei. And many of you would remember the continual harassment -- verbal, moral and physical -- of Ayman Nour and Saadeddin Ibrahim. Things may have changed a bit since the independent press appeared. Al-Ahram and the state-run media were out of bounds for Heikal for so many years, but other doors opened for him in the private press and Arab satellite services. Heikal also wrote books that were as well received as his earlier articles in Al-Ahram, which he now describes as "time specific". The visit by Heikal to his old newspaper is a sign of loyalty in a time where loyalty is in short supply. It is a lesson to anyone wishing to learn the profession -- any profession; that nothing matters more than the accumulated experience of generations. Journalism has moved on, Heikal has moved on, and only true and reliable news will remain the essence of this profession. When Heikal spoke about Mubarak's money he was doing just that.
